Historical ore mining sites in Lower Silesia (Poland) as geo-tourism attraction · 2017-03-07 ·...

Acta Geoturistica volume 4 (2013), number 1, 15-26

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Historical ore mining sites in Lower Silesia (Poland)

as geo-tourism attraction

MACIEJ MADZIARZ

KGHM CUPRUM RDC Ltd., Wroclaw, Poland

(E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Article presents the possibilities of using of the remains of old ore mining tradition

in the Lower Silesia as major attractions of industrial tourism and geo-tourism,

against a background of the mining development in that area and characteristics of

the research work conducted systematically for many years at former mining and

metallurgical sites by the Mining Institute of Wrocław University of Technology.

The article presents a project for the preservation, conservation and modern-day use

of the survived remains of tin and cobalt ore mining in the vicinity of Krobica-

Gierczyn-Przecznica at the foot of the Izerskie Mountains in the neighbourhood of

Świeradów Zdrój, which is executed by KGHM CUPRUM Sp. z o.o.

Key words: history, ore mining, exploration and exploitation of deposits,

Sudety Mountains

LOWER SILESIAN ORE MINING IN

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

„…There is land of such a nature that if

you sow, it does not yield crops, but if you

dig, it nourishes many more than if it had

borne fruit …”

This timeless Xenophanes thought was

cited in the introduction to „De Re

Metallica” – the first ever complex study

concerning mining, metallurgy and

mineralogy, by its author Georgius

Agricola, a 16th

-century researcher,

scientist, physician and philosopher, one of

the most eminent intellects of the

Renaissance. The above maxim perfectly

reflects the importance of mining carried on

over the ages in the area of Lower Silesia,

especially in the Sudety Mts., where

adverse weather conditions and poor soils

did not favour stock-farming and plant-

growing, and the real source of wealth and

prosperity of their inhabitants were the

treasures hidden deep in the mountains by

the Nature. These treasures are made up of

numerous mineral deposits, especially

metal and ore deposits, including gold,

silver and copper, the mining origin of

which is covered with mists of history and

can be traced back to as early as the bronze

age. Although the territorial notion of

Silesia underwent essential changes

throughout its history, the mining of

different ores had been successfully carried

on here for many ages. To the north and to

the east of its boundaries no mining activity

had been carried on, it was only in the

distant Bytom and Tarnowskie Góry region

(the Polish Ore Basin) that mining activity

was carried on a large scale. To the west,

the nearest mining activity area was the

region of Freiberg. It should be stressed that

despite the distinct separation of the Lower

Silesian mining, it took advantage of the

experience of other, important mining

centres in Europe, achieving a high level of

mining and metallurgic technology

(Dziekoński, 1972). In order to respect the

old divisions, the notions of Lower Silesia -

Silesia Inferior, Niederschlesien for the

west Silesia and the Upper Silesia - Silesia

Superior, Oberschlesien for the east Silesia

were used. The borders of Poland on the

Bóbr and Kwisa Rivers were established in


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the year of 1000, when the Wrocław

bishopric was created and they did not

undergo any major changes throughout the

Middle Ages. The south border constituted

the massifs of the Sudety Mountains

(Czapliński et. al., 2002). Despite the

complex and turbulent political history of

the Silesia, mining activity has always an

important economic role, providing

livelihood for their inhabitants and for

regional development opportunities. The

origin of many Lower Silesian places is

associated with mining. Gold, ores of silver

and lead, copper, tin, arsenic, cobalt

chromium, iron, coal, lignite, building

stone, and even mineral waters constituted

large resources of that region. However, the

subject of interest for former miners were,

first of all, numerous, small polymetallic

ore deposits, usually containing a few basic

ore minerals, exploited in a documented

manner over the period from the 13th

to 20th

century (Dziekoński, 1972). In Lower

Silesia, more precisely in the Sudety Mts.,

these types of ore formations encompass a

number of deposits and occurrences

characterised by multicomponent and

variable mineralisation. The area of their

occurrence is the Sudety Mts. and their

foothills, where veins or mineralised zones

reach the length of more than 2 km

(Radzimowice), and the depth of more than

300 m (Kowary) (Dziedzic et al., 1979). In

the initial mining period, first of all the

richest and easily available deposits at

small depths have been exploited, and the

vein deposits initially evaluated as abundant

often turned out to be small and difficult in

exploitation.

Lower Silesia is divided into six main

regions in respect of the useful mineral

occurrence These are: Kłodzko Land,

Sowie Mountains along with the Wałbrzych

region, the foothills of the Karkonosze

Mountains, exploited gold-dust deposits in

the vicinity of Lwówek, Złotoryja and

Legnica, the so-called North-Sudeten

Zechstein depression (having outcrops

south of Lwówek and Złotoryja and near

Grodziec), and Fore-Sudeten Zechstein

monocline situated north of Lubin

(Dziekoński, 1972). The historically known

deposits were exploited over many ages and

they were mostly the so-called “open

deposits”, i.e. the ore bodies of those

deposits were at least partly exposed by the

erosion surface, which allowed their early

discovery and extraction (Dziedzic et al.,

1979).

German scientists Cloos, Berg, Bederke

and Petrascheck were the first to undertake

work aimed to systematise the information

on Lower Silesia deposit occurrence and

genesis, in combination with geological and

structural assumptions. In 1936, the

comprehensive study “Schlesien.

Bodenschätze und Industrie“, containing

the evaluation of geological basis for the

development of mineral extraction and

processing within the area of Lower Silesia,

was completed by a group of German

scientists and researchers of that period,

such as O. Spangenberg, E. Bederke, O.

Eisenkraut, I. Bartsch, L. Gäbler, F. Ilner,

A. Metzing, M. Morgeroth, E. Pralle, D.

Rademacher, F.W. Siegert, H. Sinnreich,

W. Thust (Madziarz, 2009). Since 1945 that

work has been intensely continued by the

Polish researchers and it has resulted in the

discovery of a huge polymetallic deposit of

copper and silver, and consequently in the

modern-day boom in the ore mining in

Lower Silesia. The deposits on the Fore-

Sudeten monocline, which were discovered

only after World War II, are ranked among

the largest in the world and are nowadays

intensely exploited in the three modern

underground mines.

The history of Lower Silesian ore

mining is well known and mostly

associated with the gold mining which was

carried on in many centres and was of

special importance to them (Dziedzic et al.,

1979; Dziekoński, 1972; Quiring, 1948;

Sachs, 1906). First of all, the area in the

former Legnica Duchy, between the rivers

Kaczawa and Bóbr in the region of

Lwówek, Złotoryja, Mikołajowice and

Bolesławiec was distinguished by the

volume of production. The boom in gold


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mining took place in the years 1180–1241,

and only in the first half of the 13th

century

the mining law was introduced for the gold

mines as one of the earliest in Europe

(Lwówek in 1278, Złotoryja in 1342). On

the European scale, Złoty Stok became a

recognised centre of gold mining and

metallurgy, where the arsenic ore deposits

containing gold were exploited. There, the

beginnings of mining goes back to 1291,

and the largest boom is traced back to 15th

century and the first half of the 16th

century.

Till the end of the 17th

century the goal of

the mining activity was the production of

gold, and since the beginning of the 18th

century the activity had been concentrated

on the production of arsenic, with gold

being recovered as a by-product. The

exploitation in Złoty Stock was finally

brought to an end in 1962. According to

German researcher Quiring the name Sowie

Mountains – in German: Eulengebirge,

comes from the Celtic word meaning gold

(Quiring, 1948). In fact, in the already-

exploited ore veins in the Sowie Mountains

there were small amounts of that precious

metal.

Hidden behind the fascinating shine of

gold is the forgotten but yet several-

century-old and noble history of Lower

Silesian mining and metallurgy of many

other ores among which ores of copper,

lead and silver, tin and cobalt, arsenic, iron

and, later, uranium were historically most

significant. It is worth stressing that gold

and copper - the earliest used and mined

metals by human being (Craig et al., 2003)

were fairly abundant in relatively easy to

find polymetallic vein deposits in the area

of Lower Silesia, which can indicate very

early beginnings of their exploitation in that

area. Although as yet there is no material

evidence that the history of Lower Silesian

ore mining goes back more than one

thousand years, there is no way not to recall

here again the works of German scientist H.

Quiring, who linked the beginnings of

mining works in the Sudeten with the

activity of Cretans – already around 2

thousand years B.C., and their continuation

with the influence of Celts, who stayed in

the Silesia in the period of the 4th

to 3rd

century B.C. (Celtic silver and bronze coins

are known). It is also known that in the

period of the so-called “Lusatian Culture”,

in the neighbourhood of Legnica and

Złotoryja arms and tools were locally made

of bronze – an alloy of copper and tin, by

casting in stone moulds, with the shortages

replenished with imports from Carpathians

and Eastern Alps. In the bronze age this

area was within the reach of the so-called

“Unietic Culture”, which formed from

around 2100 B.C., especially south of

Wrocław. Numerous copper products as

well as those made of bronze and gold,

including arms, daily necessities,

ornaments, etc. are found in the discovered

skeleton graveyards of that culture. It is

known that its twilight occurred as a result

of the fall of already-existing copper mining

and processing centres, which were located

in the areas where that culture evolved

(Czapliński et. al., 2002). The documented

history of copper ore mining in Lower

Silesia – the metal which, besides gold, was

the earliest and initially most extensively

used one in the human history, both in

ancient times and nowadays, encompasses

the period of at least 700 years, as the first

survived information on the existence of

“Cuprifodina in montibus” – which simply

means „a copper mine in the mountains” in

Latin (Dziekoński, 1972; Madziarz, 2010),

in the vicinity of Miedzianka near Jelenia

Góra, comes from the year of 1311. The

copper and arsenic ore deposits in the area

of northern Karkonosze Mts., in the vicinity

of Miedzianka i Ciechanowice,

Radzimowice and Czarnów have an

essential role in the development of mining

in Lower Silesia. The second area in Lower

Silesia, where copper mining activity was

carried on was the neighbourghood of

Złotoryja, where already in the 18th

century

in the place called Leszczyna a copper ore

mine of sedimentary origin was started, in

the form of cupriferous shales poor in metal

but ensuring stable production. The gently

and uniformly declining bed exploited there


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in the “Stilles Glück” mine in the second

half of the 19th

century ensured the

smoothness and continuity of production

(Dziekoński, 1972). Mining activity in the

North Sudeten Zechstein depression was

resumed only in the thirties of the 20th

century, when the progress in mining

technology and the shift in global mining

towards more and more poorer ores made

the mining of those merely 0.8-1.2% ores

with uniform mineralisation cost-effective.

It gave the origin to the so-called “Old

Copper Basin”, operating until the nineties

of the 20th

century, in the region of

Złotoryja and Bolesławiec. Mining activity

aimed at obtaining copper ores were also

carried on in a number of other places. The

object of exploration and exploitation in the

area of Lower Silesia were also

polymetallic deposits containing silver.

Poor deposits of tin ore occur on the

northern slopes of the Izerskie Mts., in the

vicinity of Gierczyn and small amounts of

cobalt minerals exist in their

neighbourghood, in Przecznica. The tin ores

were exploited in the 16th

and 17th

century,

and the cobalt minerals were exploited in

the 18th

and 19th

century (Dziekoński, 1972;

Madziarz, 2008, 2012; Madziarz et al.

2006, 2008, 2012).

The exploitation of iron ores was also

carried on in Lower Silesia. The region of

Kowary and that of Janowa Góra were

abundant of easily accessible magnetite. In

Kowary, the iron ores had been exploited

since 1148. In the second half of the 19th

century, Stanisławów near Jawor became an

important centre for mining that material.

The mining works on the Sudeten

deposits, apart from few exceptions, were

carried on periodically. In the initial stage

of exploitation, the richest and most easily

accessible deposit parts were extracted.

They often included vein deposits, initially

evaluated as abundant but then turned out to

be small and difficult in exploitation, which

led to abandoning of mines. The mining

activity was interrupted by wars, epidemics,

population migrations or by falling prices

of raw materials. Over a long period, the

knowledge about the Sudeten deposits was

limited to those already recognised during

the mining activity carried on throughout

the centuries, in the shallow near-surface

parts (Dziekoński, 1972).

The documentary collection of the

former German Higher Mining Office in

Wrocław (Oberbergamt zu Breslau, OBB

Breslau) is a rich source of information on

the history of mining in Lower Silesia, in

which the especially rich materials come

from the years of 1779–1852. The source

publications for historical studies are codes

containing names, summaries and full texts

of documents from old chronicles.

Furthermore, the works by Festenberg,

Steinbeck and Fechner contain plenty of

information. Among the works published

after 1945, the work by Dziekoński (1972)

is of special importance as it is a

comprehensive source of information on the

history of Lower Silesian ore mining.

REMAINS OF FORMER ACTIVITY

Nowadays, most of the formerly exploited

deposits in the area of Lower Silesia have

only of historical importance. Hundreds of

years of the intense mining works left

numerous traces in the area, still readable

despite the lapse of centuries. Inherent

landscape element which is characteristic

especially for the mountains is numerous

remains of former mining activity. They

constitute a precious source of knowledge

about the development of deposit mining

technology, providing the evidence of

knowledge and skills of the generations of

miners connected over the centuries with

the area of Lower Silesia. These relics

occur in the area mostly in the form of

clearly distinguished heaps of waste rock,

land subsidence, and often in the form of

partly or fully survived underground

workings: shafts and adits, often in good

condition, ruins of mine buildings, ore

processing and concentrating equipment

(e.g. stream water damming reservoirs).

These objects are usually devoid of any


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protection or documentation. Many of the

hitherto survived and accessible objects

disappear from the landscape forever, as a

result of modern-day construction works

carried on in their vicinity, incorrect

liquidation - without consideration to the

historical value of such objects, or filling

them for dozens of years now with all kind

of wastes, including hazardous. In the

works devoted to the history of Lower

Silesian mining the issue of preserving the

relics of former activity and their

importance - as a source of knowledge

about the old mining techniques, as well as

the necessity to properly preserve and

conserve them, or even the possibilities of

using them today as tourist attractions, apart

from few examples, practically have not

been addressed. And yet the confrontation

of information derived from archive

materials with that obtained during the field

work can lead to the enrichment of

knowledge concerning the history of

mining in Lower Silesia, and the “specific

atmosphere” of old, underground workings

constitutes a great attraction for many

people, which can be used to improve the

attractiveness of presently forgotten and

declined places connected with the old ore

mining.

Exploratory and documentary work

conducted in the field reveals the traces of

merely visible land subsidence marking the

routes of adits and galleries made at a small

depth, or collapsed shafts, as well as

perfectly survived workings, with the

fragments of lining, equipment, etc. There

exist large stretches of land covered with

neighbouring remains of shallow shafts

used in underground mining with the multi-

shaft method (e.g. on the slopes of the

Ołowiane Mts. in the vicinity of

Ciechanowice), traces of trenches and

shallow prospecting shafts marking all the

regions of former exploitation, naturally

collapsed or “spaced-out” adits outlets, but

also survived large complexes of

underground workings, with clearly

distinguished foreheads, exploratory adits,

and often with exploitation chambers of

relatively large sizes. In a number of former

mining centres there still exist, in various

degree of preservation, channels supplying

water from rivers and streams to the

processing equipment as well as water

dams, often in the form of reservoirs

located close to the drift outlet. The water

energy constituted the basic source for

driving drainage, hoisting and processing

equipment in most of the former Lower

Silesian ore mines until the middle of the

19th

century.

MINING AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL

WORK

Considering the abundance of relics of the

former exploitation in the area of Lower

Silesia and their undeniable historical and

cognitive value in 1995 work aimed at

systematic cataloguing and documenting od

such type of objects was undertaken at the

Mining Institute of Wrocław University of

Technology. Because of the special

character of work conducted at the objects

of historical value which should be

subjected to preservation maintenance, the

agreement on scientific cooperation was

concluded in 2006 between the Faculty of

Geoengineering, Mining and Geology of

Wrocław University of Technology, the

Institute of Archaeology and the Institute of

History of the University of Wrocław, with

the aim to jointly conduct work concerning

former mining sites in the area of South-

West Poland, thus the mining archaeology

work. The research and cataloguing work

has been conducted at a number of former

ore mining centres, among which there are

those of most importance from the

viewpoint of the history of mining works in

Lower Silesia, as well as those of smaller

importance but having a documented multi-

century history of exploration and

exploitation. Among the regions under the

study are: the site of former copper and

arsenic ore mining in the vicinity of

Miedzianka, Ciechanowice and Janowice

Wielkie, polymetallic ores in Radzimowice


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and Czarnów, tin and cobalt ores in

Gierczyn and Przecznica, chromite in the

Ślęża Massif, iron and uranium in the

region of Kowary, iron in Stanisławów,

lead and silver in Marcinków, Bystrzyca

Górna and Modliszów.

Each centre of former exploitation the

mining works were carried on periodically

within the space of several centuries. With

the development of knowledge and

technology, the previously abandoned

workings were revisited several times and

the depth of exploitation was continually

increased with the aim to make use of the

newest achievements in mining technology

and geological knowledge. The effect of

such type of activities is a large number of

former mine workings and surface building

remains, often spread even within a single

centre of former mining works over a large,

usually undulating area. Traces of former

works are usually obliterated as a result of

different kind of works carried on after

abandoning the mining works, e.g. forestry

works. The precise study of a single site,

even without giving consideration to

underground workings is a long-term and

arduous work requiring the participation of

a team of experts, including mining

archaeologists. The identification and

examination of underground workings

entail speleological works, and the access to

the interiors of former mines often requires

reopening of their outlets that had been

filled up for hundreds of years. This type of

activity involves, which is obvious, the

necessity to make many formal and legal

arrangements, to say nothing about the

considerable costs of its completion. Due to

the above reasons, most of the hitherto

completed research and cataloguing work

has been limited to the superficial

identification of former mining work sites

and still accessible parts of workings.

Due to the importance of the historical

mining centres, the scope and results of

completed research work, and what is

particularly important – the possibilities of

using them in industrial tourism and geo-

tourism, the results of the work carried out

in the operating area of former lead and

silver ore mines in Bystrzyca Górna (Sowie

Mts.) and those conducted in the historical

region of tin and cobalt ore mining in

Gierczyn and Przecznica (Izerskie Mts.) are

presented below.

FORMER LEAD AND SILVER ORE

MINING SITES IN BYSTRZYCA

GÓRNA (SOWIE MOUNTAINS, IN

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ŚWIDNICA)

The area of the occurrence of quartz-

barite veins with polymetallic

mineralisation (mainly lead and silver

minerals) in the neighbourhood of

Bystrzyca Górna in the Sowie Mountains

was, within the space of more than five

centuries, subjected periodically to fairly

intense exploration and exploitation works

(Madziarz, 2008). In the area formerly

known as “Goldener Wald” (Golden

Forest), and more precisely, in the area

known as “Silber Wiese” (Silver Meadow)

the following mines operated in a

chronological order: Segen Gottes,

Christinenglück, Victor Friedrich,

Wilhelmine, Beathe and probably Berthe.

Although the documented information on

the mining works in the neighbourhood of

Bystrzyca Górna concerns only the year of

1539 (Dziekoński, 1972) it is no way not to

rule out the considerably earlier moment of

their beginning, the sign of which can be

the shape and size of the cross-section of

the workings reopened during the mining

and archaeological work. The first mine

operating in the described region was Segen

Gottes, which was relatively large for the

Sowie Mountains’ conditions. As known

from the survived documents, while driving

the workings the traces of „old works” were

encountered, which was the sign of

considerably earlier time of starting the

mining works on the deposit in the Widna

mountain (Dziekoński, 1972). The

documented attempt to resume the

exploitation there was undertaken for the

last time in the year of 1844, in the mine


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called Beathe, however, the mining works

were stopped after a few years – probably

because the deposit was depleted. The area

of the former mines in the north part of the

Sowie Mountains, was revisited after the

Lower Silesia had been reunited with

Poland. The exploration works were

initially aimed to evaluate the prospects of

the occurrence and extraction of uranium

ores, and then barite (Madziarz, 2008).

Despite the numerous source materials,

the proper identification of the mine

workings mentioned in the survived

literature and historically operating in the

region of Bystrzyca Górna became possible

only today owing to the mining

archaeology work carried out in the Widna

Mountain in the years 2006–2010. In

consultation with the Institute of

Archaeology of the University of Wrocław

and after obtaining the consent from the

owner of that land – the State Forests, part

of the workings of the Beathe mine were

reopened in 2008, first the so-called „upper

adit” located on the highest level (fig. 1),

then the 18th

-century lower adit (in 2009).

The charting of the workings completed in

comparison with the archive plans from the

collection of the former OBB Breslau made

it possible to prove that the examined

Beathe mine located in the Silber Wiese,

made use of the main opening-out headings

of the mines operating there in the previous

centuries, i.e.: Segen Gottes,

Christinenglück, Victor Friedrich and

Wilhelmine. In this way, it was possible to

prove without any doubts that the location

and layout of the workings in the Widna

Mountain corresponds to the mines known

from the literature and operating in that area

in the period from the 16th

to 19th

century

(Madziarz 2008).

Fig. 1 Historical mining works in Bystrzyca Górna


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After completing the charting and

photographic documentation the workings

were preserved and filled up again. The

complex of workings of the former mines in

the neighbourhood of Bystrzyca is wide, it

has a great historical value and absolutely

requires further research and cataloguing

work, as it constitutes an example of the

mining work development within the space

of about 500 years, and the condition of its

workings has not been impaired as a result

of exploration works for uranium ores – as

it was the case in many similar former ore

mining centres in Lower Silesia.

Based on the work results the concept of

creating a tourist path presenting the

attractions of the Bystrzyca River valley,

among which the special role should play

the relics of the former mining works,

including the complex of perfectly

preserved underground workings dated

back to the period from the 16th

century to

the beginning of the 19th

century has been

developed. The authorities of Świdnica

Commune are interested in the study results

and are in favour of making the complex of

historical mine workings in the Widna

Mountain available for the tourist traffic as

an industrial tourism and geo-tourism

attraction.

FORMER TIN AND COBALT ORE

MINING SITES IN GIERCZYN AND

PRZECZNICA REGION (IZERSKIE

MTS.)

The beginnings of mining works in the

region of Gierczyn and Przecznica in the

Kamienicki Ridge of the Izerskie Mts. are

traced back to the 16th

century, when the tin

ore mining and metallurgy reached the

apogee there (Dziekoński, 1972). The

mining works were stopped in time of the

Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), there were

several attempts of their resumption, but

they were not successful. The exploration

and exploitation works were carried on

until the beginning of the 19th

century, and

they were finally stopped in 1815. The

gradual decrease in tin ore extraction at the

end of the 18th

century in Gierczyn

converged with the beginnings of

exploitation of cobalt ores in nearby

Przecznica, providing the basic component

for a very expensive cobalt paint. The

exploitation of cobalt ores in Przecznica has

of great economic importance, since it

supplied about 10% of the then European

production of that dye. The mining and

metallurgical works in the Sct. Maria-Anna

mine were carried on until the middle of the

19th

century. The German authorities

became interested again in the abandoned

workings of the Reicher Trost and

Hundsrücken tin mines in 1939, in

connection with the war preparations. After

1945 the area of the occurrence of tin

deposits became the subject of long-term

geological exploration. On the basis of

documented resources, the “Initial project

for the construction and exploitation of the

Gierczyn mine” was completed in 1957,

which was operating on the basis of the

former workings, with the mining works

limited to the prospecting works only. The

exploitation was never started because the

deposit was too poor (Madziarz, 2008;

2009; 2012, Madziarz et al., 2008).

Numerous mining objects are the remains

of the more than 400 years’ documented

history of mining works in the region

Krobica – Gierczyn – Przecznica. During

the cataloguing work carried out in the

analysed region, the complexes of mines

and their superficial infrastructure, which

are known from archive materials, have

been found and identified. They include:

Sct. Maria-Anna, Drei Brüder and Fryderyk

Wilhelm in Przecznica; Morgenröthe,

Kupfer Zeche and Reicher Trost in

Gierczyn, St. Carol and Hundsrücken in

Kotlina, St. Johanes and Leopold in

Krobica. Special attention should be paid to

the remains of shafts of the former mines

Reicher Trost and Hundsrücken, on the

basis of which the mine Gierczyn was

designed in the post-war period (Madziarz

et al., 2006; 2012). Due to their relatively

good condition, the complex of workings of


23

the former mine Sct. Johannes and the adit

Leopold in Krobica as well as the adit

Fryderyk Wilhelm in Przecznica (Madziarz

et al., 2008) seem to be very interesting in

terms of their use as a tourist attractions.

Also, part of the underground workings of

the Sct. Maria-Anna mine in Przecznica is

in perfect condition. In the flooded shaft of

that mine there still may exist extremely

precious from the historical point of view

remains of the original water drive drainage

equipment.

The results of the conducted work have

aroused interest of the Mirsk Commune

authorities, in the area of which the remains

of former mines are located. After the

proper preservation and preparation, these

objects should add to an increase in the

tourist attractiveness of Mirsk Commune,

and consequently bring measurable

economic and social benefits. This idea is

Fig. 2 Former tin and cobalt ore mines (16

th to 19

th century)


24

supported by the experience of similar

projects for the restoration of historical

post-mining objects and turning them into

tourist attractions in Poland and Europe. As

a result of the undertaken activities the

project entitled “Reclamation of the regions

degraded by mining activity in the area of

Mirsk Commune, with the creation of a

tourist path Along the footprints of old ore

mining” (Madziarz et al., 2008). The project

will be executed by KGHM Cuprum

Research and Development Centre in

Wrocław. It will be financed by Mirsk

Commune from the European Union

resources, within the framework of the

Regional Operating Programme for the

Lower Silesian voivodeship for the years

2007–2013. Within the framework of the

above-mentioned project, the complex

reclamation of the former mining sites in

the area of Krobica – Gierczyn – Przecznica

will be carried out (towards the forest and

tourism direction) and the tourist and

educational path (about 8 km long)

presenting the history and remains of the

former tin and cobalt mining in that area

will be created. After removing the wastes

the proper reclamation and management

work will be carried out at the post-mining

objects, in the scope resulting from the

planned method of their management for

the tourist traffic needs. The main

assumption adopted for the area

management design and creation of the

tourist and teaching path is the least

possible interference in the existing

condition of the former mining sites and the

surrounding area. The main goal is to make

the remains of former mining works

available to visitors in the condition as

close to the original, i.e. in the period from

16th

to 19th

century, as possible.

The most important element of the

planned path “Along the footprints of old

ore mining” will be the underground tourist

route St. John’s Mine in Krobica (fig. 2),

being prepared on the basis of historical

workings from the years 1576–1816.

Tourists, under the care of guides, will

cover the distance of about 350 m along the

workings from the period of the 16th

to 19th

century. This project, in its programme

assumptions, features the values qualifying

it to the category of environmentally-

oriented and socially-oriented projects. The

completion of the two basic task of the

project – cleaning the objects and post-

mining area from different types of waste,

and then carrying out the reclamation and

management work, will bring about a

considerable improvement of the

environment condition within the area of

the three villages: Krobica, Gierczyn and

Przecznica in Mirsk Commune. The

revitalisation of the environment,

preservation and exhibition of the old

mining sites and, on their basis, creation of

the tourist path with an attractive

underground section should contribute to

the increase in tourist traffic in the region of

the above-mentioned commune. It will

certainly have a positive impact on the

economic development of that region.

CONCLUSION

As a result of the research and

cataloguing work concerning the former ore

mining in Lower Silesia, a number of

historical mining sites hitherto known

mainly from the source materials and

historical studies have been identified,

where the exploration and cataloguing work

was conducted for the last time mostly at

the turn of the 40s and 50s of the 20th

century, in connection with the search for

uranium ores (Ocena, 1959). In order to

exchange experience in the scope of

identification and documentation of such

type of objects as well as to spread the

results of the conducted work, the

conference “Mining heritage and history

and making use of remains of former

mining works” is organised every year,

starting from 2005. However, the most

important effect of the conducted work

seems to be the practical use of their results,

as the preparation basis for the recent

project executed by KGHM Cuprum


25

company, under the title “Reclamation of

the regions degraded by mining activity in

the area of Mirsk Commune with the

creation of the tourist path Along the

footprints of old ore mining”. This project

is a example of how to make use of

scientific and research work that is

conducted by the scientific centre -

Wrocław University of Technology, the

results of which have turned out to be

interesting for practical point of view and

become the subject of interest of the self-

government bodies due to the expected

benefits associated with the improvement of

the environment condition and development

of the Commune. It is worth stressing that

Mirsk Commune representatives were

acquainted with the results of the research

and cataloguing work during the conference

“Mining heritage and history and making

use of remains of former mining works”,

which entailed their interest in the scope of

the possibilities to make use of the mining

heritage survived in the area of the

Commune in the development of industrial

tourism and geo-tourism, and hence to

significantly improve the hitherto modest

tourist proposal.

In the conditions of Lower Silesia, the

project executed on the basis of the

described work is an innovative and

piloting project. At the first, has been made

an attempt to save the complex of historical

mining sites dated in the period from the

16th

to 19th

century, which have been

destroyed since the 50s of the 20th

century,

when the exploration works were finally

stopped there, and the former workings

have become illegal waste dumps. The

interest aroused by the described

interdisciplinary project among the self-

government of some Lower Silesian

communes in the area of which similar

remains of former mining works are located

and in the community of people widely

associated with tourism – both those

conducting economic activity and those

making use of attractions prepared for

visiting. The remains of several-century-old

mining activity, properly preserved and

made available for visitors, may soon

become the major tourist attraction of

Lower Silesia.

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Historical ore mining sites in Lower Silesia (Poland) as geo-tourism attraction · 2017-03-07 ·...

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